I went to the Georgia Archive today and made it in a record time of 45 minutes (yay!). I didn't find out anything amazing about my ancestors but did make one big discovery: The Georgia Archive's hours are changing - again.According to a sign in the lobby, staring July 1, 2011, the Georgia Archive will be open Friday and Saturday from 8:30am - 5pm. They will be closed Monday through Thursday. There is no mention of these changes on their website - with less than a month to go!
That's right, the state's archive will only be open two days a week. How does Georgia compare to research hours at state archives throughout the South? Let's compare:
- Alabama: Tue-Fri, 8:00-4:30; 2nd Saturdays
- Florida: Mon-Fri, 9:00-4:30
- Tennessee: Mon-Fri, 8:00-6:00
- South Carolina: Tue-Sat, 8:30-5:00
- North Carolina: Tue-Fri, 8:00-5:30; Sat 9:00-5:00
- Mississippi: Mon, 9:00-5:00; Tue-Fri 8:00-5:00; Sat 8:00-1:00
- Virginia: Mon-Sat 9:00-5:00
So there's no other state in the South East that has cut back so dramatically (back in Oct '10 they were open Tues-Sat). What is Georgia doing?
2 comments:
Valerie,
Thanks for the update, disheartening though it is. The Georgia Archives is a valuable and under-appreciated resource for all Georgians. Obviously the budget cut, even though not as severe as originally proposed, is having its (desired?) effect. A 19th century book states that "in those early days a very large proportion of the Baptists of Georgia entertained a prejudice against education, and took no interest in institutions of learning, except to oppose them" (History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia, The Index Publishing Company, 1881). Some things never seem to change.
Tim
Hi Val, the North Carolina archives have reduced their Saturday hours from 9-5 to 9-2 now. I'm not sure if any of the weekday hours have been cut, but I'm sure they are going to be cut soon if not already. I can't believe the GA archives are only open 2 days a week now. Are they not busy at all?
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